Welcome back to the galactic scavenger hunt that is Star Trek: Discovery, season 5! Last week, the clue they found was a vial of water. But! Multiple scans revealed it to be… a vial of water. Consulting with David Cronenberg (and I still cannot get used to seeing my all-time favorite body horror director popping up in this show), they figure out the names of the scientists. Michael thinks the water might symbolize something, and cross referencing with the scientists’ home worlds, they find a desert world near one of them. The world is only habitable in one area, thanks to a cleverly camouflaged weather tower that makes it rain.
But there are of course complications. The weather tower is breaking down after 800 years, so they need to repair it lest it fail and the population dies. Oh, and this also a pre-warp society, meaning they have to sneak around while observing the Prime Directive of non-interference. So it’s time to put on some costumes and try not to tell them all the people that their gods are a lie.
Victor: So I thought this was a classic throwback to the days when Kirk and Picard were always wrestling with the Prime Directive. This usually meant putting on cloaks and Ren Faire garb so they could go look for dilithium or something. So it was promising when the latest clue leads them to the dust world only kept safe by the weather towers our alien scientist secretly installed.
Victor: Yeah, too many.
Mary: Weirdly, I didn’t mind.
Victor: And I still am not sure what they’re doing with Doc Culber and his journey of personal discovery.
Mary: Oh yeah that feels random. I hope it’s leading somewhere.
Victor: “Oh, I’m all spiritual now!” Cool, I guess. Eat your mofungo
Mary: Like, they’re planting the seeds for him to do something interesting later. Then again, this is Discovery, and they suck at follow up.
Victor: It just feels so tacked on. If they end up with “Only Culber can run the god machine because spiritual awakening,” I will throw things. But that would totally be peak Discovery.
Mary: Oh noooooooo. You’re so right they totally would. I would still take that over Moll Wants Alien Baby.
Victor: Culber uses the machine to give Moll a baby. And then Michael has a teary monologue about “family.”
Mary: Please stop. It hurts cuz it’s true.
Victor: Man, this show really needs the Cerritos to jump in and burst their bubbles. Now I want Mariner to come in and razz Michael.
Mary: We haven’t talked about Rayner and Adira! That was my fave part of the episode! The curmudgeon and the novice.
Victor: Yeah, it’s nice that he’s taking them under his wing. But don’t soften him up too much. I like salty Rayner.
So, final thoughts? I’m not as high on this one as the past couple. I’d give it 3 stars.
Mary: I’d say 4 again, so want to average it to 3.5?
Victor: I dunno. Maybe we should race to the weather tower to decide a winner…
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
